<<< Personnel Publications Investigator Bio

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cell Biology and Physiology; Director, Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Program; Director Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine; Director Cystic Fibrosis Center

• Cystic Fibrosis Center
• Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine
• Patient Oriented Research
• Pathobiology
• Thomas Ferkol Research Lab

Thomas Ferkol, M.D. graduated from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) in 1981, and he received his M.D. degree from the Ohio State University College of Medicine (Columbus, Ohio) in 1985. He was a pediatric resident at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1985-1988), where he also served as Chief Resident and Clinical Instructor (1988-1989). Dr. Ferkol returned to Case Western Reserve University in 1989 for fellowship training in pediatric pulmonology, and subsequently became a member of the pediatric faculty at Case Western Reserve University and Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital (Instructor in 1992-1994; Assistant Professor 1994-2000).

Dr. Ferkol joined the faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine in 2000, where he currently is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cell Biology and Physiology (with tenure). He is the Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center and Director of the Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Childrens Hospital. Dr Ferkol is a respected teacher, and has received departmental teaching awards for his educational efforts.

An American Lung Association Edward Livingston Trudeau Scholar and past recipient of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation LeRoy Matthews Physician-Scientist Award, his research has focused on generating cell and animal models to study suppurative lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia, specifically defining factors that contribute to the development of chronic endobronchial infection, inflammation, and airway injury. Moreover, his laboratory has developed and tested novel approaches to inhibit the destructive effects of inflammation in the airway by targeting drugs to the immediate epithelial surface.

Dr. Ferkol has been principal investigator on several National Institutes of Health, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, March of Dimes, and American Lung Association grants. He co-directs the Washington University Therapeutic Development Center, a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation-sponsored collaborative designed to streamline clinical trials testing new therapies for cystic fibrosis. Finally, he directs one of four primary centers that constitute the Genetic Determinants of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium, a part of the National Institutes of Health Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network, which studies the pathogenesis, natural history, and treatment of primary ciliary dyskinesia and atypical forms of cystic fibrosis.

Education

• B.A., (magna cum laude) Case Western Reserve University, 1981
• M.D., Ohio State University College of Medicine, 1985

Training

• Chief Resident and Clinical Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, North Carolina Memorial Hospital, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. (1988-1989)
• Pulmonary Clinical Fellow, Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH.(1989-1992)
• Instructor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH. (1992-1994)
• Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Cleveland, OH. (1994-2000)
• Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. (2000-Present)

Honors

• 1989: Floyd W. Denny Pediatric Alumni Society Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 1989: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation LeRoy Matthews Physician-Scientist Award
• 1992: Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital Board of Trustees New Investigator Award
• 1994: Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1997: Member, Society for Pediatric Research.
• 1998-present: Named, Best Doctors of America.
• 1999: EDI Innovation Award.
• 2004: European Cystic Fibrosis Conference Presentation Award (Pulmonology).

Selected Publications

1. Aldallal N, McNaughton EE, Manzel LJ, Rabe AM, Karp PH, Zabner J, Jacquot J, Ferkol TW, Look DC. Inflammatory response in airway epithelial cells isolated from cystic fibrosis lungs. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2002. 166: 1248-1256.

2. Schuster DP, Kozlowski J, Hogue L, Ferkol TW. Imaging lung inflammation in a murine model of Pseudomonas infection: a positron emission tomography study. Experimental Lung Research 2003; 29: 45-57.

3. Richard J-C, Zhou Z, Ponde DE, Dence CS, Factor P, Reynolds PN, Luker GD, Sharma V, Ferkol T, Piwnica-Worms D, Schuster D. P. Imaging pulmonary gene expression with positron emission tomography (PET). American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2003; 167: 1257-63.

4. Ferkol T, Cohn, L, Phillips, T, Smith A, Davis P. Targeted delivery of antiprotease to the epithelial surface of human tracheal xenografts. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2003; 167: 1374-9.

5. Richard, JC, Factor, P, Ferkol, T, Ponde D, Schuster, D. Repetitive imaging of reporter gene expression in the lung. Molecular Imaging. 2003; 2: 342-9.

6. van Heeckeren, AM, Scaria, A, Schluchter, MD, Wadsworth, S, Ferkol, T, Davis, PB. Delivery of CFTR by adenovirus to CF mouse lung improves survival in response to chronic Pseudomonas lung infection. American Journal of Physiology, Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology 2004; 286:L717-726.

7. Tosi MF, van Heeckeren A, Ferkol TW, Askew D, Harding CV, Kaplan JM. Effects of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection on development of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte response to adenovirus vectors. Gene Therapy 2004; 11: 1427-1433.

8. Rosenbluth DB, Wilson K, Ferkol T, Schuster D. Lung function decline in cystic fibrosis patients and timing for lung transplantation referral. Chest. 2004;126:412-419.

9. Sirninger J, Miller C, Braag S, Tang Q, Yue H, Detrisac C, Ferkol T, Guggino WB, Flotte TR. Functional characterization of an rAAV5-pseudotyped-CFTR- vector. Human Gene Therapy. 2004; 15: 832-41.

10. Hardin, DS, Chul A, Ferkol, T, Howenstine M, Stames S, Rice J, Dyson M, Morse, M, Blagburn M, Nagy,R, Prestidge C, Seilheimer DK. Growth hormone treatment improves nutritional status in children with cystic fibrosis treated with enteral nutrition. Journal of Pediatrics. 2005; 146: 324-8.

11. Joseph T, Look DC, Ferkol TW. NF-B activation and sustained IL-8 gene expression in primary cultures of cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells stimulated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. American Journal of Physiology, Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology. 2005; 288: L471-9.

12. Virella-Lowell I, Zusman B, Foust K , Loiler S, Conlon T , Song S , Chesnut KA , Ferkol T, Flotte TR. Enhancing rAAV vector expression in the lung.. Journal of Gene Medicine. J Gene Med. 2005;7:842-50.

13. Richard J-C, Chen DL, Ferkol T, Schuster DP. Molecular imaging for pediatric lung diseases. Pediatric Pulmonolology. 2004;37:286-96.

14. Sands, M, Nolta JA, Bauer G, Ferkol T. Preclinical Basis for Gene Therapy Studies in D. Schuster and W. Powers, eds: Translational and Experimental Medicine. In press.

15. Ferkol T, Welscher M, Israel E. Specialized Designs: Gene Therapy and Pharmacogenomic Studies in D Schuster and W. Powers, eds: Translational and Experimental Medicine. In press.

16. Ferkol T, Rosenfeld M, Milla CE. Cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbations. Journal of Pediatrics. In press.

17. Ferkol T, Leigh M. Neonatal manifestations of primary ciliary dyskinesia. Seminars in Perinatology. In press.